1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for communicating using a wide area network, and particularly to a method for verifying a geographical location of a user of a wide area network.
2. Description of Related Art
Wide area networks, such as the Internet, are particularly useful for facilitating communications between strangers in remote geographical locations. In recent years, this capability has led to an increasing amount of commercial and non-commercial business being transacted over wide area networks. The parties to these transactions often know little about each other except for information such as the parties voluntarily share over the wide area network. In particular, the parties transact in a virtual space wherein their physical location is unknown or not readily ascertainable. The anonymity of transacting in a virtual space is sometimes undesirable.
For example, users may sometimes misrepresent their location for the purposes of committing fraud. One method of reducing fraud and misrepresentation is to verify the physical or geographic location of the party in question. For example, a user who claims to be John Doe of Des Moines might be suspected of misrepresentation if the user's location cannot be verified to be physically located in the Des Moines area. Additionally, it is often desirable for merchants to verify the location of a customer before completing a transaction, to ensure compliance with import/export, censorship, tax, and other laws that may apply to a particular transaction. The applicability of such laws often depends on the residency or location of the customer, but according to prior art methods, there is often no reliable, cost-effective way to verify the customer's actual location.
It is desired, therefore, to provide a method and system for quickly and easily verifying geographical or physical locations of wide area network users.